it's not great - but it's enough to let you find the ends. Last I heard there were still a few hike sections (was meant to be finished and open for easter - but then we had the feb quake)

as for how to link it to craigieburn - once you get to the old ice rink at the cheeseman road end it's kind of fun - the track isn't all that obvious (old forestry service blazes on the odd tree, track itself sort of semi-overgrown). It's a lot easier to find coming down it from the craigieburn end (though even that tends to involve circling the big open dracophyllum flats to find the blazes)

Nah, it is all rideable. There is a bit of ski field access road riding to link it all up. The new hogs back track has a pretty clay sort of surface on much of it. It was mega slippery when I was up there a couple of weeks back. Whole bunch of 2 wheel drifting going on in places!!

We parked at BR/DOC site, rode around and up Craigieburn access, down edge, up saddle, down Luge, up ski road to Jacks, across Dracophyllum to bottom Cheeseman hut (skating rink has been tidied up), down Cheesy access road to chain fitting area, up Hogsback track and across to Castle hill village. Came back on the road coz we were too tired to bike it all in reverse again!!

I have to say that I am quite surprised by some of the gradients etc on the Hogsback track. I thought it was aimed at being an intermediate track, but many of the gradients mean that only quite fit people are going to enjoy it. I would have thought that they would take a bit time designing the track with a clinometer for easier ride ability and for a more sustainable track. There are a number of sections that there is plenty of room to take the switches further across the hillside and make a longer track with an easier gradient, which would make it more intermediate!

As a lot of work has gone into creating this track, and the soil conditions obviously are not robust, best we stay away until spring dries it out

ps; second what trail says about gradients - not overly cruisy in parts. However given time I think the ride from Castle Hill Village through to top end of Dracophyllum and return will be a classic ride for anyone staying at CH Village.

Trail wrote:I thought it was aimed at being an intermediate track, but many of the gradients mean that only quite fit people are going to enjoy it. I would have thought that they would take a bit time designing the track with a clinometer for easier ride ability and for a more sustainable track. There are a number of sections that there is plenty of room to take the switches further across the hillside and make a longer track with an easier gradient, which would make it more intermediate!

I disagree, I 'd say it's definitely intermediate track. There's no sustained climbs so should be easily ridable by most if its dry. I was well impressed a small community has managed to build more singletrack in a year than chch seems to have in a decade.

Nick_K wrote:I disagree, I 'd say it's definitely intermediate track. There's no sustained climbs so should be easily ridable by most if its dry. I was well impressed a small community has managed to build more singletrack in a year than chch seems to have in a decade.

Only took DOC about 6 years to give them the nod but once they got the nod the Castle hill guys certainly ripped into it!!

If you are riding through the Cheeseman skating pond section anytime soon use caution, its a bit of a construction site at the moment. The old skating pond is being rebuilt over the next few weeks by Cheeseman folk with a lot of help from a West Coast Curling Club.